Working with Young People in Secure Accommodation: From Chaos to Culture

By Jim Rose.
Routledge
ISBN 1 58391 200 2
£15.99

In the author’s words, this book is written to “stimulate and
encourage those who on a daily basis are involved in looking after
young people in secure accommodation” and to “refresh their
thinking and help them re-examine their practice.”

It draws on Rose’s 20 years’ experience of working with young
people, most recently as director of Medway Secure Training Centre
in Kent.

A strength of the book is the numerous case studies deployed to
illustrate issues and problems facing staff and children in secure
accommodation. These reinforce the practical and worldly wise
nature of the writing overall.

The key factors determining the quality of secure accommodation,
Rose argues, include the physical environment, management systems
and the ideas that inform practice.

However, perhaps most important are the personal relationships
between children and their workers. “Present and faithful” are, he
says in conclusion, “good words to describe the qualities” required
of residential staff.

It is a simple but compelling argument.

David Porteous is senior lecturer in applied social
studies, University of Luton.